It is well known amongst guitar players that keeping one's guitar in tune is a constant and ongoing problem. Before the days of electronic tuners, all tuning had to be done by ear. Accordingly, those persons having a better ear for musical tones were better able to tune their guitars. Those persons not having such an ear had a more difficult time. Modern day electronic tuners have taken the human ear factor out of tuning one's guitar. Many different types of external electronic tuners are currently available.
Although many types of external tuners are available, these external units must be attached to one's instrument via an electronic cable. Hooking up these types of tuners becomes a chore that can be eliminated by utilizing a tuner that is built into the instrument itself.
In considering a built in tuner for an instrument such as a guitar, functionality as well as aesthetics must be taken into account. It is indeed most desirable to preserve the original beauty of the instrument while maximizing the usefulness of the tuner itself.
Other built in tuners have attempted to solve this problem-for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,124, issued Apr. 19, 1979 discloses a built in tuner in which the guitar must be manufactured to accommodate the tuner. This approach could not be used on pre-existing guitars. As well, the tuning indicators were large and took away from the beauty of the instrument. Another approach is the Sabine Stealth tuner made available by Sabine, Inc., Gainesville, Fla. The Sabine tuner is a built in tuner module with a remote L.E.D. tuning indicator which can be mounted on the guitar. When installing the Sabine tuner, some customizing of the guitar must be done, i.e. routing, drilling, etc., which can detract from the value of the guitar. In addition, the remote L.E.D. tuning indicator is highly obtrusive to the appearance of the guitar. It must be glued or otherwise attached to the front of the guitar, leaving the L.E.D. housing in plain view for all to see. Furthermore, installation of the Sabine tuner requires considerable skill and ingenuity to obtain a desirable result.